Education of War and Terror
by R y b y D i a m o n d
Summary: AU: After the Chuunin Exams and the following battles the Council "suggests" the 3rd appoint a 5th to secure the village in case of his demise - and that a fourth team member be added to all Genin-teams from Root ANBU. Please R&R!
1. Prologue

**[ P R O L O G U E ]  
**Godaime looked down at the ANBU summaries at her desk with a small frown knitting her eyebrows together – they were only children! And yet they had years of experience in Black Ops – assassinations and sabotage mostly, but a bit of information gathering as well according to their profiles.

Observing the young ninja's blank and emotionless faces as they stared back at her from the papers Tsunade couldn't help to think very ill of Danzou who had moulded these children into instruments – mere tools to an end – rather than let them be people.

"Is that them?" Sandaime asked as the older Hokage made his way across the study's floor over to their shared desk – accepting the paper sheets from his younger colleague when he reached his destination and sank down into his chair.

"He was always a sneaky bastard," the man muttered – surprising the woman as he thumbed through the documents before setting them back down at the desk.

"His recommendations are excellent," the Third explained to his perplexed successor, "Rei fits best in Team Gai, Sai in Team Kakashi, Kan in Team Kurenai and Atsuko in Team Asuma – he's letting us know how well he has observed and how accurate his information is."

"Hai," the woman agreed and felt the strong urge to get righteously drunk on sake – she definitely needed it with all the politics flowing around in the air.

.

"Whaa?" Naruto whined as the two Hokage informed the Rookie 11 and their sensei about the additions to their teams, "we don't need a new member – Sasuke will be back!"

"BAKA!" Sakura countered seconds later with a hard hit to the blonde's head – reminding the village's two leaders very much of a certain now well developed female and white haired Sannin.

"All teams are getting a new member – not just us!"

"Sakura is correct," Sandaime agreed, "although Team Kakashi will also get a temporary member for the time being until Sasuke can be retrieved."

"Whaa?" Naruto whined again, but wisely chose to keep his big mouth closed this time when Sakura shot him a fierce look.

"Team leaders will meet their new members tomorrow and introduce them to their teams," the Third said as if the blonde never opened his mouth, "we'd like to speak to you in private now as well – the rest of you are dismissed."

.

"Something wrong?" Kurenai asked the moment the last of their subordinates had filled out of the spacious study and the Genin-sensei were alone with the Hokage.

Tsunade sighed and inclined her head to her older colleague to explain the situation: "I shouldn't tell you this, but you should be made aware; neither do I know if you are familiar with a faction within the ANBU known as Root – it is a bloc Tsunade and I have no control over since its jurisdiction is given to a man named Danzou through the Village Council."

The gathered Jounin blinked at this disclosure – the ANBU was traditionally the right hand of the Hokage and the Council could only make suggestions – the revelation was alarming to say the least.

"Danzou is an old political adversary of mine from the time I took over as Sandaime Hokage – our philosophies differed greatly on how a village should be run. You could say he is more militaristic than I.

"The point is – the Council has positioned it thus that the new members of your teams will be assigned from Root ANBU."

There was a reaction among the gathered – strongest with Kurenai who widened her eyes and opened her mouth slightly, but they were all troubled.

"There will hardly be any age difference between the new members and your old teams," Sandaime continued, "since they are all the same age as Gai's team, but you shouldn't let this fool you – they are all Jounin and S-level ninja trained to be instruments of the ninja way rather than people performing the arts."

"But they're just children!" The mother instinct in Kurenai voiced shocked and was greeted by a sad nod as well as an affirming noise from Tsunade.

"Danzou has had them trained since early childhood though," the female Hokage replied, "they're most likely more socially inept than even Kakashi."

The mentioned Jounin gave a lopsided smile beneath his mask – only visible on the upside-down U of his uncovered eye.

"What are their specialisations?" Gai asked sanely – very unlike his public display of blind enthusiasm.

"Here," Sandaime handed over the profile sheets to the taijutsu master, "there are lists of completed missions there as well, but consulting their medical records we've been able to determine it's incomplete."

"Oh?" Asuma inquired for his father to elaborate on the statement, which Tsunade readily did instead:

"There are mentions of old injuries that doesn't fit with the reports we've been given. Two blaringly obvious examples are firstly the remnants of a spinal injury that Sai's records list as an unlucky fall, but damage like that couldn't have been caused by a fall alone – the other is the extensive scarring on Atsuko which has been explained as 'training accident', but is quite likely the results of extensive torture."

Kakashi accepted the latter mentioned's file and couldn't hide the widening of his eye as he took in the scarred face – he had seen it before, but covered it up with an offside remark about a slight likeness to Asuma to which Kurenai actually giggled and agreed only to receive a faked glare from the stocky Jounin in question.

.

"They'll probably add an older Genin or Chuunin to our teams," Tenten said after a long silence as the Rookie 11 reached one of the unoccupied training fields.

"Someone with more battle experience than us," Shikamaru surprised his peers by volunteering while making himself comfortable against the trunk of a large tree – looking up at the lightly clouded sky.

"I wonder if we know any of them," Hinata managed to voice her musing in a tiny whisper.

"Their youthfulness will shine like a beacon in the night!" Lee exclaimed at the same time – effectively drowning out the female Hyuuga's quiet words and Tenten thought that she would at least get to share the joy that was Lee and Gai with someone new come tomorrow.

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Thank you for reading - please remember to review!


	2. Chapter 1

**[ 1 st C H A P T E R ]  
**Naruto's face twitched annoyed when he took in the new team member's smiling face – it seemed serene and happy, but something about the "Sasuke-clone" was making him nervous. The new Jounin, Yamato, was only slightly better since Kakashi-sensei appeared to know him from somewhere, but the yellow haired boy wasn't very happy about it still.

"Weeell," Kakashi smiled under his mask and scratched the back of his neck while suggesting: "We should do an introduction again – get to know each other."

The only girl present nodded and decided to break the ice by going first: "I'm Sakura; I like a particular boy, but that's beside the point – I aspire to become stronger so that I will be an asset rather than a burden, and I have a lot of hobbies which are none of your business."

Kakashi's visible eye twinkled at how much his subordinate had grown since they did this a year ago and nodded for Naruto to continue which he did:

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto! I'll become stronger and bring Sasuke back – believe it! I like it when Iruka-sensei treats me to ramen at Ichiraku Ramen, but cup ramen is okay too – but the three minute wait after pouring in the hot water is torture!"

The older Jounin managed to refrain from face-palming when it became apparent the boy hadn't grown any since that day a year ago – it was slightly disconcerting and he gestured for the new boy to go next in the chain of presentations:

"Hi, I'm Sai," the boy smiled his obvious fake smile – not fooling either of the two Jounin, "I don't like anything – neither do I hate anything. I paint in my free time."

"Alright," the new Jounin said, "I'm Yamato – I was assigned by Godaime Hokage to this team – I enjoy wood sculpting and believe too much work dulls the senses. Like Sakura I have a lot of hobbies, one which I've already mentioned."

"What about you, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura smiled, "we've known you a whole year and still know nothing about you!"

"Maa," the man in question sighed, "I'm not really that kind of man who lists his liked and dislikes – my hopes for the future are really none of your business – but you know I like to read!"

Tenzou gave a small lopsided smile at the statement as Sakura muttered about perverts reading porn in public and suggested they go for team practice to get to know each other even better.

.

"That would be most effective," Neji agreed as he and Rei left the training field in Lee and Gai's footsteps – Tenten trailing behind the Hyuuga and their new team-mate while smiling contently at having got another young and non-eccentric team member – the two boys were exchanging battle tactics and generally acquainting themselves with each other.

The soft greeting of "Konnichiwa Neji-nii-san," alerted the Hyuuga to his younger cousin's presence as she and her team passed on their way to training – there was another tall, black haired boy with them who gave Rei a short nod in greeting as he walked beside Shino.

"Kan," Rei address the boy and the picked up his conversation with Neji again – going into an argument about chakra manipulation and how that could assist certain unproductive taijutsu techniques.

.

The bridge was empty and the water flowed beneath it uninterrupted and calm – there were still signs of the battle in the village, but the bridge had been repaired almost among the first structures as it was a sort of landmark.

"The greatest good is like water:  
--- it benefits all life without being noticed.

It flows even to the lowliest places  
--- where no one chooses to be  
--- and so it is very close to the Tao.

It settles only in quiet locations.

Its deepest heart is always clear.

It offers itself with great goodness.

It keeps its rhythm as it keeps its promises."

Asuma smiled when a soft voice sounded from behind him as he leaned against the bridge's rail and observed the water – "Lao-tzu, Dao De Jing?"

"You are correct, Asuma-sensei," the voice's owner agreed and come to stand beside the older Jounin – watching the water flow.

"Don't call me that," he told the newcomer, "I doubt there is much I can teach an ANBU anyway."

"Asuma-san then," the other ninja righted as they lapsed into silence for a moment, "I was told to report to you."

"Mmm..." the older Jounin confirmed, "Wanted a chance to talk to you before we meet up with the rest of the team."

"You have concerns you wish to voice?"

"We've been through a lot this past year," Asuma explained, "I just wanted to warn you that something like that makes a group either knit together harder or break apart – Team 10 have all know each other since they were young children since their parents were all on the same Genin-team as well."

"I understand," the younger ninja's face was blank, but Asuma got the impression the notice was received and understood, "but teams which cannot accommodate change have no future."

"True," the shinobi granted, "but they are still young – wisdom comes with experience."

.

"We should go for barbeque later," Chouji announced when the Ino-Shika-Cho Trio were making their way towards the bridge to meet up with Asuma-sensei and get to meet their new team-mate, "food is a good ice-breaker."

Ino rolled here eyes – boys! All they could think of were food and lazing off – she hoped this new boy-man-whatever would be less of a baka and better on the eyes.

"How troublesome," Shikamaru sighed – new people to get to know and abilities to calculate.

"Who's the girl?" Chouji asked when the bridge finally came into view – the trio could see Asuma-sensei lean against the rail and a dark clad girl perhaps only a year older than them leaning her back against the very same rail next to the Jounin as the pair was carrying on some kind of conversation.

"Not a clue," Ino scuffed as she lengthened her step and left the two boys behind to wonder at her strange behaviour while she was both hoping and dreading that the girl was their new team-mate.

.

"...like Liu Chi's wise fruit merchant," the girl said and Asuma nodded when Ino finally came within hearing distance of the pair and called out "Asuma-sensei!"

"Ino-chan," the tall Jounin greeted with a smile and took one final drag of his cigarette before flicking it into the water below, "come meet Atsuko-san."

Atsuko-san was a slight, but lean girl, whose patches of exposed skin were covered by a pattern of scars – a part of Ino shuddered when she met the girl's softly smiling face.

"Chouji, Shikamaru – hurry up!" Ino called over her shoulder and rolled her eyes when the latter muttered how troublesome girls were.

"Hi," the larger of the boys offered when they caught up with Ino on the bridge – Asuma-sensei had turned away from the river and was watching his team while smiling at the offered greeting.

"Now that we're all here," the eldest of the group declared, "we should at least try to get some training done."

The boys grumbled, Ino sighed, Atsuko watched her new team-mates emotionlessly and Asuma forced down the impulse to face-palm – he must have some bad karma indeed to be settled with this group.

"Asuma-san," the group's newcomer spoke coolly with a soft fake-smile only the older man could detect for what it really was and the speaker drew the shocked gazes of the other teenagers because of the way she just addressed the older ninja, "it would appear your 'suggestion' was vetoed."

He was silent for a moment before throwing his head back and giving a short laugh prior to composing himself again: "Your way of say this isn't a democracy?"

"Perhaps," she gave a slight nod and Asuma put his hands together announcing over Chouji's complaints that they were indeed going training.

- - -

**[ N O T E S ]**

in this chapter = Tao Te Ching: Chapter 8, translated by Chao-Hsiu Chen

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Thank you for reading - please review!


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